Latest JW.org Statistics Are Confusing & Lack Context
What else to expect from a Cult ?
Latest JW.org Statistics Are Confusing & Lack Context
by steve2 48 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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EverApostate
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Doubting Bro
OrphanCrow brings up a valid point about the hours reported and even the active publishers. For example, I turn in a FS report and haven't actually participated in any form of FS. Why? Because it's less hassle to do it that way then to go "inactive" and deal with questions. When I was the secretary, I know for a fact that people were making up time. But, there's really no way to police it. The person could say they "informally" witness to a neighbor/workmate/someone in line, etc. You simply can't verify the information.
Which begs the question of why they report hours at all. They do it to 1) rank the members of the congregations "spirituality" and as a qualifier for additional responsibilities, 2) because if they don't force a report, members won't go out at all, and 3) likely some sort of proof that they are indeed doing charitable work in countries that require that as a condition for tax exemption. That doesn't apply in the US since religious organizations have tax exemption and there are just a few things that would knock that out. I would imagine this is not the case in some countries.
The hours are likely way over inflated and active publishers are as well. However, baptisms can't be faked. When you see that number decreasing, then they will have real issues.
How many remember when the branch numbers were published monthly in the Kingdom Ministry? They went from that to highlights to nothing. As the numbers start to be negative in the future, look for that. It seems they are already doing it if they don't publish branch numbers.
Also, how many remember when they would put the reports in the middle of a WT and the congregation would make comments on various aspects of the report? LOL - we know why they don't do it now. Hard to get excited over a less than 2% increase isn't it?
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stuckinarut2
It is "marketing and advertising 101"
Simply highlight the one or two points that look good, and hide the 100 other glaring faults!
Just like a used car salesman does: "This lovely classic car has a unique patina finish that highlights it's characterful active life" (= "it has a rusty finish")
Or "This is the best car! I can assure you of that!" = ("it is the only car we have for sale at the moment, hence it is the best")
The Society will do this selective highlighting from now on. AND the gullible brain-dead JWs will eat it up!
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steve2
Wait, what? So they are so CLEARLY lying about statistics?
No, Saename, I don't think they are. They are however being very selective and omitting even greater evidence of stagnation and/or decline. If they were lying, they would not show that Bible studies have dropped by 43,000 compared with 2016 or that the number of partakers shot up by about 500 to more than 8,500.
Darkspilver, regarding finding info on specific countries, I had difficulty finding the e-link and am not techno-savvy enough to reproduce it here. Perhaps someone else can do that?
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Sour Grapes
We have no idea if the Witchtower's annual numbers are accurate. They could be padding any numbers and who would no the difference?
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jwleaks
The number of congregations can increase because of double counting in the same way the WT can double-count publishers.
Congregation A
Congregation B
Congregation C
Congregation D
= 4 congregations
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Congregation B and C are merged creating another congregation + 1.
4 congregations + 1 new congregation = 5 congregations.
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slimboyfat
This is so incredibly disappointing, if they're not going to publish the country figures any more.
The worldwide figures are compiled by combining all the country statistics. So the country statistics are already available and known to whoever published the summary. (To state the obvious)
If they are not going to publish the country figures, I think it's incumbent on us to gather statistics on WT growth or decline as best we can from all the sources that are publicly available.
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no-zombie
Like everyone else, I was disappointed the they didn't have the guts to come clean by releasing a full annual report, but ultimately we all should have expected that this would occur at some point in time.
However far from being bad news, it is actually good. For it is just another proof to all of us, that the Organization's decline is real and that this feeble attempt to muddy the statistics by the Governing Body shows that the best they can come up with is to cover-up what is really going on with the Organization.
What will occur in the future in regard to the annual report?
Well remembering that the annual report has not been used the the service meeting for quite some time, there is no actual compelling reason for them to have one. So I recon that next year we'll get even less and it will not bother most witnesses as long as they get their regular fix of Kaleb and Sofia cartoons.
In the mean time, some interpretation of what we do have conclusively shows the flat-lining of publisher numbers. Whether we examine 'peak publishers' or 'average publishers', the trend is the same, as both follow each other. In actuality the 'peak publishers' figures will always be slightly higher and be slightly more volatile (due to people's emotional situation at the time), but it still can be used as a reasonable indicator while we have the data.
What ever the GB does though, congregations will continue to contract, halls will continue to be sold ... and the rot will continue it spread.
no zombie
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slimboyfat
Does anyone know how come branches increased from 89 to 90? Was one new branch added, or a few closed, and others opened?
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steve2
This is so incredibly disappointing, if they're not going to publish the country figures any more.
Agreed. It is small consolation that they are still publishing a limited range of country-by-country figures under the link on JW.org Jehovah's Witnesses Around the World. These are limited to peak publishers, ratio JWs/population and number of congregations. That's it.
Moreover, the individual country figures are from the 2016 Service Year, while the worldwide figures are from the 2017 Service Year.
[The way I found out the individual country figures are from the 2016 Service Year was by comparing them with those in this Year's yearbook which contains the 2016 Service Year - nothing on JW org informs the viewer that they have sourced their statistics from two different Service Years: 2016 (individual countries) and 2017 (worldwide totals)].
It is highly anomalous to include statistics from two different years in a "Report" and not advise the viewer that has been done.